CorkonomicsThe economics of wine production, collection, and vineyards
The numbers
Vineyard land · Pauillac≈$2,798,250 a hectare▼ down 17% on 20232024Opening price · Château Lafite Rothschild 2025≈$376 a bottle▲ up 17% on the year beforeSold at auction · Romanée-Conti Grand Cru, DRC 2019$22,917 a bottleSotheby's, Sep 2026Cost to make one bottle · Burgundy grand cru (Pinot Noir)$48–283US duty on wine from · Canada+50%since Aug 2026Everyday bottle in a US shop$13.77 a litre▼ down 1.3% in a yearSep 2026Vineyard land · Margaux≈$1,567,020 a hectare▼ down 7% on 20232024Opening price · Château Cheval Blanc 2025≈$376 a bottle▲ up 22% on the year beforeSold at auction · La Tâche Grand Cru, DRC 2018$5,417 a bottleSotheby's, Sep 2026Cost to make one bottle · Champagne prestige cuvée$26–89US duty on wine from · Australia+12.5%since Jul 2026Vineyard land · Côte-Rôtie≈$1,511,055 a hectare▲ up 8% on 20232024Opening price · Château Mouton Rothschild 2025≈$336 a bottle▲ up 19% on the year beforeSold at auction · Richebourg Grand Cru, DRC 2012$3,542 a bottleSotheby's, Sep 2026Cost to make one bottle · Bordeaux classified growth (2nd–5th)$17–61US duty on wine from · New Zealand+12.5%since Jul 2026Vineyard land · Côte de Nuits grand cru≈$7,275,450 a hectare2019Opening price · Château Palmer 2025≈$268 a bottle▼ down 19% on the year beforeVineyard land · Pomerol≈$2,238,600 a hectare2023
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New to wine? Start with the short lessons, then look up any word you do not know.

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Learn the economics of wine production

What it really costs to turn a field of vines into a bottle on a shop shelf, and who earns what along the way. Eight chapters, written for anyone from about fifteen up.

8 chapters · About 60 minutes

Start the first chapterTest your knowledge

A picker cutting a bunch of dark grapes into a wooden crate at sunrise

Wine is a farm product, a manufactured good and a luxury brand all at once. That makes it one of the best ways to learn how a business works: land, labour, machines, time, risk, prices and profit all show up in a single bottle.

Read the chapters in order. Each one explains its ideas from scratch, works through an example with round numbers, and ends with a few questions to check you have it. When you are done, take a course to test yourself.

What you will learn

  • Follow a bottle from the vineyard to the shop and say who is paid at each step
  • Explain why vineyard land in one village costs a thousand times more than in another
  • Tell fixed costs from variable costs, and work out a winery's break-even point
  • Show how time, interest and taxes push up the price of a bottle
  • Read the wine news like an economist: surpluses, tariffs, prices and brands

Read the chapters

Each chapter builds on the one before. Read them in order the first time.

  1. Three bottles, a glass of red wine and an open ledger on a winery counter Chapter 1 · 7 min read · Completed ✓

    The wine business at a glance: from vineyard to glass

    A bottle of wine passes through five or six pairs of hands before you pour it. Each one takes a slice of the price. Here is who they are, and how to tell whether any of them is actually making money.

  2. A glass of red wine on a mossy stone wall beside an autumn vineyard, with a church spire in the mist Chapter 2 · 7 min read · Completed ✓

    Land: why some vineyard ground costs millions

    Two fields of vines can look almost identical, yet one is worth a hundred times more than the other. The reasons are location, rules, scarcity and reputation, and they shape the price of every bottle.

  3. A small tractor between vineyard rows at dawn Chapter 3 · 7 min read · Completed ✓

    Growing grapes: farming costs and yields

    A vine needs a full year of work for one harvest, and the weather can wipe it out in a night. This chapter follows the farming calendar and shows why fewer grapes can mean dearer wine.

  4. Ripe dark grapes hanging on the vine Chapter 4 · 7 min read · Completed ✓

    Grape prices: buying, selling and contracts

    A ton of grapes can sell for a few hundred dollars or many thousands, depending on where it was grown and how many other grapes are around. This is the market most wine drinkers never see.

  5. Oak barrels in a stone cellar with a bottle and a glass Chapter 5 · 8 min read · Completed ✓

    Making the wine: winery costs and economies of scale

    Tanks, presses, barrels and a building cost the same whether you fill them or not. That simple fact explains why big wineries can sell cheaply and why a small winery's first job is to reach break-even.

  6. Thousands of bottles stacked along a tunnel cut into white chalk Chapter 6 · 7 min read · Completed ✓

    Time is money: ageing, inventory and the cost of waiting

    Some wines are sold a few months after harvest. Others sit in a cellar for five years or more before anyone can buy them. Waiting improves the wine, but it also costs real money.

  7. A pallet of wooden wine cases beside an open shipping container at a dock Chapter 7 · 8 min read · Completed ✓

    From cellar door to shop shelf: packaging, distribution, taxes and tariffs

    A wine that leaves the winery at $5 can reach the shelf at about $10. Glass, corks, lorries, warehouses, taxes and markups all add up, and for imported wine, tariffs add more.

  8. Vineyard hills in morning mist with a village on the ridge Chapter 8 · 8 min read · Completed ✓

    Pricing, brands and the global picture

    Why does one bottle cost $8 and another $800? Costs are only part of the answer. This final chapter looks at how prices are really set, why so many small wineries struggle, and how to think like a wine economist.

Test yourself with a course

Every course takes less than thirty minutes.

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